Scheduled Audience Capacity for Performing Arts Companies The Role of Product Innovativeness and Organizational Legitimacy

Many organizations have adopted innovative product strategies because innovativeness is generally seen as a valuable product characteristic. However, innovativeness may also increase uncertainty about the product’s acceptance in the market and in the performing arts this has important consequences for decision-making by venue programmers. In this study, we investigate the success of productions of performing arts companies at the intermediate stage. We focus on the organizational legitimacy of the company, in combination with the innovativeness of a particular production, and explain the size of the potential audience for this production: its scheduled capacity. We argue that less legitimate organizations receive little media attention from critics and that productions that are original works, or have only been adapted a few times, are high in innovativeness. Our analysis of 551 productions of performing arts companies in the Netherlands shows that the relationship between innovativeness and scheduled capacity is positive for companies that are perceived as less legitimate and negative for companies that are perceived as more legitimate.